CBS Greenlights Comedy Pilot Starring Martin Lawrence

EXCLUSIVE: In what will likely be the last pilot order this season, CBS has given a late green light to a an untitled multi-camera comedy starring Martin Lawrence. The project, written by Mike Lisbe and Nate Reger and produced by CBS TV Studios, stars Lawrence as a widowed father of two teenagers who, after losing his job in construction, decides to go to the police academy and become a cop at the age of 46. Lisbe and Reger are executive producing with Lawrence’s managers, Michael Green and Sam Maydew from The Collective.

Lisbe and Reger are familiar faces at CBS, their most recent gigs were serving as supervising producers on the network’s $#*! My Dad Says and co-executive producers on this season’s How To Be A Gentleman. Nevertheless, the choice of their script as a starring vehicle for Lawrence was a surprise. CBS had commissioned 2 top writers, Tom Hertz and Larry Wilmore, to pen 2 potential vehicles for Lawrence, who has a talent deal with CBS this season. Additionally, the network had a couple of backup scripts that were not so specifically tailored for Lawrence, and one of them, Lisbe and Reger’s cop comedy, ended up getting the pilot order. They are with ICM.